City Council - workshop

making well I want to ask because normally the Casco aqueduct shuts down sometime in the fall for a certain period of time and then we go on to Browns is there a scheduled shutdown for Casco aqueduct repairs as they typically do this time of year or is there any of those dates coming up you are correct typically in the past those Catskill aqueduct shutdowns have occurred in the fall there's no

Jason, real quick, what is the necessity again for the shutdowns?

mayor harvey yes jason i know at one point we were talking about a few years back when we were doing dealing with all the pfos contamination at the washington lake we were talking about the delaware uh aqueduct which is not far from here the connector i believe is somewhere between here and middle hope um in the marlboro area roosting area yeah in that area so is that an alternative god forbid if the browns pond can only go six weeks or you know eight weeks and then the casket aqueduct being shut down for 11 weeks in 2028 Do you think it will be a good alternative to look at the Delaware Aqued

Okay. Councilor McLemore. Thank you for this education from both of you guys. So there's a pipeline that leads to Brown's Pond. There's no other pipeline anywhere else, it's just Brown Pond.

Jason, you might have mentioned it, but we've been drawing from the, or switching back and forth from Catskill to Brown's Pond for how many years now?

Oh, sorry. Getting used to the new mic. So when we get a report with the alternatives, then we like decide next year whether we want to pursue them? Is the goal to just know the alternatives?

Is this something that was negotiated with the county, or is that something the water authority offers all municipalities? Because I know during the budget hearing, I think we spent 600,000 on new Windsor taxes, and I'm just curious, is that something we can negotiate? Or is this just an existing program that we're taking advantage of?

got it thank you mayor Harvey yeah to to mrs. Kelson's point the town of New Windsor is the only municipal government that doesn't exempt the city from tax liabilities and over the years that I've been on City Council have reached out to the town supervisors prior to Mr budetti I haven't communicated with him about it because I think he's only been town supervisor maybe for a couple years but anyway I've made calls to the former town supervisors but what I will say and maybe Mrs Kelson or Mr Morris you can you can answer this at one point because we were getting water from the washington lake

Actually, quick question on the auction. Are those items, like, picked up when they're sold? What does it look like?

Comments or questions? Mayor Harvey? You answer my question. I was going to ask you, what were the next steps? Because I'm really excited about this and moving this forward. So how long will this these environmental matters and things take, you know?

There's never, there was a building that was in that, a house, right, in that area?

So we don't have to worry about any buried oil tanks or anything? Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone, and especially you and the committee, to all the hard work that you guys are putting into this. This is something that's important. So I'm definitely glad to see this moving forward. And hopefully next year, I hope next year we will start moving and moving and moving and moving.

I know that we mentioned the construction estimate was like higher than the grant amount. What happens in that case? Is it just like we get it as shovel ready until we apply to other funding?

Mayor Irving. Yeah, I just wanted to add that the last I knew of the numbers with the previous administration that it was going to cost roughly about $2 million, and we had that $1.9 million put into a reserve fund. But I will say, like the swimming pool, the aquatic center, The longer it takes to go to bid and get shovels in the ground, costs tend to go up. I think it would be worth the discussion of looking at possible bonding out some of the funds if we can't get the grant funding, additional grant funding.

comments or questions counselor score. How many people did we have on it for this year. But this is for next year. For the youth training. Didn't we do that this year too?

Yes, I just wanted to look at that and see how we could maybe improve it.

real quick on item six, these drawings were the same ones we received last, they haven't changed? Yes, absolutely.

Okay, in item seven, I know that it looks like the deadline passed, are we retroactively?

I just wanted to know, did the applications already go in or is that something that we, what's the process for the applications to go in?

Mayor Harvey. Yeah, because I have been getting several calls six to ten months ago, and for a very long time, Mr. Church, there was one bid. And this person and this family has called me and several other council members and wondering why the bid wasn't accepted.

Thank you. So Ellie, why do you, and I don't know if you have the answer, why would they assume that they would get discounts?

The bonus points adjust the price so that it changes the bid?

I just had one more question. Is River Realty, are we having an agreement with them for listing all our properties?

Mayor Harvey. So, Ali, and this is not to slight you or anyone in the planning department or the gentleman that is on record to be voted upon because I'm very familiar with this gentleman as an employee of the city, etc., etc. But what I'm saying is that I take a lot of heat when people put in offers for properties that the city owns and the can gets kicked down the road for whatever reason for an extended amount of time because the person that allegedly, and I say allegedly because I'm going to look over these dates and these times and so on and so forth, the person that put in the bid well o

Can you give me a specific date on that, when they withdrew? Because I'm going to be talking with this family.

Let's go to the beginning. So their first offer was when?

All right, can we, hold on, I need to see, I don't see where that, okay, okay. So December 3rd it was listed.

Okay, December 3rd, 2025 was when it was listed.

Okay, so what you're suggesting to me, miss kelson is is. Yeah, yeah, hold on let me let me I'm trying to reiterate this because I need this to be on record and I need this be clear okay if someone goes on maternity leave which is professionally in legally justified. There's no contingency for someone else to step into that, and these are the internal controls that several council members have been talking about when we talk about process. So if someone goes on maternity leave in this department or any other department, what is the contingency for someone else to carry on the business of the c

So no one else in this department could have stepped up to move this forward?

See, and that's where the disconnect happens. That's where the trickery happens.

Okay, well, let me say this. I choose my words, and I use the word trickery because that's the heat that I get when I get in these streets. Wow. These people are feeling like there's injustice going on with the sales of properties in the city of Newburgh, and that's been the narrative for decades, okay? And I feel that heat, and I'm going to choose my words because it feels like trickery because we got dates and bullets on this document, and we can't tell me on the record in a public meeting when did this woman put in that offer, okay? so that I can look at the evaluate and the timeline on whe

What's the date for the woman, and I don't want to use names, but what is the date of the African-American woman that put this? All right, so...

All right. Well, I'm going to say I'm going to recommend that we pause on this until we get all the facts because it feels like some injustice and it feels like some trickery.

yes thank you so i um i agree with the sentiment that the mayor is sharing right now because i too hear the same things from people when they talk about properties from the city and i'm hearing this and i know that the planning department and everyone is doing their best but i don't think that that reaches to the public and we need to figure out a way to make this process this whole process more transparent in terms of the bids. I have had people talk about, you know, anytime they go to buy a property or look for a property is gone or that no one calls them back when they are inquiring about p

All right. Any additional comments or questions, Council Member Shakur? Yes, because I've been speaking to that family also, but I know it's about this property, but also know the person that's doing it now. And so now it's two residents caught up in the same thing, and they're here tonight. So I mean, I know we need to look into this, but Yeah, some things is we've been talking about forever and now we were looking at it for this one person, but people been complaining about that forever today. I got calls from home, but we've got 3.2 million dollars and they were saying some of the plumbers

I agree with the sentiment about transparency and process. I think I need to learn more about the actual process. I am concerned about this young man losing a pre-approval and interest. And then just interest changes and it might hurt his potential and financing package. I understand that an offer, we need to learn the timeline and all that. The offer was still lower, it's like this offer was double what the person. We can't make the person that's investing in our community, that lives in our community pay for whatever happened here and the offer is still higher. And I think I'm just concerned

No. Mayor Harvey. Well, I'll let Rob go. Go ahead, Rob. Go ahead, Rob. Go ahead.

I mean, everyone already said everything, but I was going to say the same thing as far as don't be discouraged, Ruben. I know it's hard hearing this and listening to everything that's going on and being a first-time homeowner or trying to attempt to be a first-time homeowner. You don't want to be despondent as far as a loss of hope as far as putting in offers on a different property or so. because we don't know how this is going to shake out as well. So don't be discouraged as far as what you hear on tonight. It's just the fact that there is a continued narrative within our community where it

any mayor harvey yeah and like i said there's nothing slighting um um the gentleman who has uh been requested for um the vote and and for the property it's not there's nothing personal even with the with your department uh mrs church it's just that I have to communicate and represent all the constituents that are in our city, and I have to, when there's frustration in one particular group of constituents that communicate that same energy to me and several other council members, we have to address it. The city of Newburgh's government, unfortunately, has had a history of corruption prior to my

I just have one question for Ms. Church. Do we have any other units in this development?

Okay. Do we have any communication about the management company? Because I've gotten complaints from people here about this particular management. Do we have any kind of understanding of how that plays into properties that we currently own?

We have some very angry owners here in this development and want to take a look at it. Absolutely. Thank you.

I just wanted to also add on to that, just to some of the concerns regarding the bidding process and just wanting more transparency in this process. It seems like this isn't the only procedural issue that feel that we can expand on or fix constituents or residents don't get any type do they receive any type of feedback and email a letter saying that they've that we've received their application that they're that they weren't selected and

Yeah, I think it would be helpful even just knowing that someone submitted applications because there's a lot of just conversations within the community. And I think it would make it easier for us to know what's going on, especially if we have a timeline. I know that it might not be doable for every single property but as long as we know that some like if there's some type of log for us to review I guess just expanding that process like I just want to know who's been submitting when did they submit it having a clear timeline to avoid issues like the one that we face tonight

So for a council to know, if it's possible to have a log of each bid, like if this is the recommended bidder that you presented, if it's possible to have a log. I know Mayor Harvey requested a timeline. If we could have some type of log as well.

Councillor McLemore. I just have one quick question, Ali, because you brought up a good point. They receive a confirmation that they didn't get the property.

During the budget season, I asked the clerk about how we expand this service. I was concerned that in our office building, the courthouse, a lot of records are living in the basement. This is not for expanded services, this is just for what we have right now.

I would agree to moving the work session. I don't know if maybe the day after would work. I mean, not the day after. I'm sorry. I believe that Monday we have our council meeting. So maybe let me see.

So can we commit to it? Like, who's going to be here? And just stick with the 5th?

You here? Are you here? I'll be here. So we have four, right? I'll be here.

Is that what you all want? i would prefer to stick i've built my whole schedule around this schedule so i would prefer to keep it okay so it's it's not a problem for me if if the four want to have the work session it just means that the three of us that are at a conference will have to meet with the city manager um when we return and and i i i meet with him daily anyway so we could do a zoom um but yeah or just make the time up when we get back